A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing rods of the type used by sportsmen and commercial fishermen to catch fish by a hook-and-line method, i.e., by using a bait and hook attached to a line payed out from a reel through line guides attached to an elongated flexible rod. More particularly, the invention relates to a fishing rod which uses potential energy stored in a tensioned elastic sling attached to the rod, to propel a bait attached to the end of a fishing line to accurately controllable distances and directions, while retaining the rod motionless.
B. Description of Background Art
Most sport fishing and some commercial fishing uses a hook-and-line catch method, in which an artificial or natural lure or bait with an attached hook is fastened at one end of fine, strong line. The other end of the line is usually attached to a fishing rod which has an elongated flexible shaft, and is most often wound onto a rotatable spool of a fishing reel. The reel is provided with a handle attached to the spool, which rotates as a bait on the distal end of the line is payed out through ring-shaped line guide eyes located along the length of the rod shaft, to position the lure at a desired lateral distance and depth relative to a fisherman located in a boat, or on a shore adjacent to a body of water such as an ocean, lake or stream. Rotating the reel handle winds the line back onto the reel spool, to reel in a fish which has been hooked by the bait, or to retrieve and reposition the bait at a different location.
A customary way of positioning a bait at a desired location in a body of water is to reel in the line sufficiently to position a bait attached to the line just beyond a tip guide eye which angles forward from the tip of the fishing rod shaft. The fisherman, holding the rod by grasping a handle located rearward of the reel, then draws the tip of the shaft and attached bait rearwards towards his body in a sweeping arc-shaped back swing. The shaft is then snapped forward from the fisherman's body in a quick, vigorous arc-shaped casting motion, typically in a horizontal or vertical plane. At the end of the arc-shaped casting motion, momentum thus imparted to the bait or lure causes it to continue to move forward after forward motion of the rod tip has ceased, causing the bait to be propelled forwards from the rod tip and dragging the attached line with it, the line paying out from the reel through guides attached to the rod, and unwinding from the reel spool, which has been unlocked by the fisherman during the cast.
Although casting a bait or lure in the manner descried above is a relatively simple task, it requires some degree of skill and practice for a person to be able to consistently position a bait at a selected splash point in the water, sometimes at a substantial distance away from the fisherman. Moreover, when casting is done from a boat with other people present, or on a crowded shore, care must be taken that the hooked bait or lure is not propelled into another person, or another person's fishing line. Also, there are situations in which even an experienced fisherman finds conventional bait casting techniques inadequate. For example, when fishing in a heavily wooded area adjacent to a stream or lake, foliage can sometimes be so thick as to make normal arc-shaped casting motions of a fishing rod difficult if not impossible. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a fishing rod which enables a bait or lure to be propelled from a fishing rod without requiring a casting motion of the rod, for use in such locations as described above, which have limited overhead and/or lateral clearance for casting motions of a fishing rod.
In recognition of problems associated with utilizing conventional arc-shaped casting motions of a fishing rod to cast fishing lures, there have been previous efforts to provide devices which might enable casting of baits or lures without requiring motion of a fishing rod. Prior art references known to the present inventor which are intended to propel fishing lures or baits without requiring conventional casting motions of a fishing rod include the following United States patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,217,820, Rowe; U.S. Pat. No. 2,225,719, Shattor, U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,102; Tuttle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,813, Moon.
The foregoing references disclose compressed springs or compressed gas to propel baits from a rod. Hertkorn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,956 discloses a sling-shot type bait launching device which employs an elastic cord that is stretched rearwards from a U-shaped yoke protruding from the top of a fishing rod. The cord is attached to the rear end of a bait launching cup, which is releasable by a pistol-like trigger to thereby enable the cord to propel the bait cup and a bait within the cup.
The present invention was conceived of to provide a fishing rod of practical and versatile design which uses a stored energy source to accurately propel a wide variety of types of fishing baits and lures for substantially long distances and with substantial accuracy, without requiring a casting motion of the rod.